Strategy: The Sentinel Agency, #3

By Laurel Richards

For years, Ryland Ward has known Dr. Casey Haven is his soulmate, but he hasn't been able to claim her. His own cousin abandoned her and their son, leaving her with a broken heart. Ryland has waited for her to heal so he can prove he's much more than a friend.

 

Casey has always been able to depend on Ryland. As a trans woman with a psychic ability to heal, she isn't accepted by everyone. When her medical knowledge is needed for an undercover mission with Ryland, she doesn't hesitate. She'll do whatever it takes to stop the bad guys from deploying a biogenetic weapon that could kill everyone she loves.

 

With a dangerous operative plotting an attack and a black ops organization stalking the members of the Sentinel Agency, the stakes have never been higher. These star-crossed lovers will have to come together to save the universe.

 

Content: m/f romance, love scene, trans woman

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laurel Richards
• Release date: May 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201006488

Book preview

Table of Contents

Copyright

Title

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

About the Author

Strategy

Copyright © May 2022 by Laurel Richards

Cover design by Laurel Richards

Images used under license from Shutterstock.com. Licensed images are being used for illustrative purposes only, and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

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All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. This copy is intended for the original purchaser only. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, resold, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review. If you would like to share this book, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Blurb

For years, Ryland Ward has known Dr. Casey Haven is his soulmate, but he hasn’t been able to claim her. His own cousin abandoned her and their son, leaving her with a broken heart. Ryland has waited for her to heal so he can prove he’s much more than a friend.

Casey has always been able to depend on Ryland. As a trans woman with a psychic ability to heal, she isn’t accepted by everyone. When her medical knowledge is needed for an undercover mission with Ryland, she doesn’t hesitate. She’ll do whatever it takes to stop the bad guys from deploying a biogenetic weapon that could kill everyone she loves.

With a dangerous operative plotting an attack and a black ops organization stalking the members of the Sentinel Agency, the stakes have never been higher. These star-crossed lovers will have to come together to save the universe.

Content: m/f romance, love scene, trans woman

Strategy

(The Sentinel Agency Book 3)

by

Laurel Richards

Chapter 1

Standing in the pale morning light, Ryland Ward looked down at where his arms and legs should have been and instead saw a robot body. The sight was a bit disconcerting. He lifted his hand to study it and opened and closed his fist. There was a short delay between his thinking about the movement and his fingers responding.

He turned his head to study the other robot beside him and was startled to discover it was exactly the same height. I haven’t been this short in years.

Ryland’s human body was almost two meters tall and currently standing at a VR station back in his office at the Sentinel Agency. Nova Satus was a planet still in the process of being terraformed. The scientists had finished ecopoiesis—the initial stage of planetary engineering—so there was proper gravity and a magnetic field to sustain life. He couldn’t feel it, but he knew the temperatures were tolerable. Synthetic biologists had seeded the planet with genetically engineered microbes that were hard at work creating a habitable environment. Soon plants would be added to accelerate oxygen production, but for now the air wasn’t breathable.

Instead of investing in habitats and space suits, the scientists working on the project did so via robots. A brain computer interface allowed for direct mind control of the robot. Back home, he was wearing a bunch of sensors and VR gear on his head so he could maneuver this thing.

Try using mental imagery, Andromeda suggested through his earpiece. Visualize the movement you want to make.

Andromeda was his agency’s technical expert. She had hacked into the research station’s operating system in order to borrow these robots. As someone who had needed to replace an arm and a leg with cybernetic prosthetics, she was also an expert on relearning motor functions.

I feel numb, Luka complained through the robot next to him. And sluggish.

Best I can do, Andromeda announced. We’re a long way from Nova Satus. I’m using every trick I know to boost the information transfer rate and cut down on lag time. You’d better head to the rendezvous point. It’s about a hundred meters in front of you.

On our way. Ryland concentrated on walking forward.

During a previous mission carried out by his security and investigation firm, they had discovered the coordinates for a clandestine appointment here on Nova Satus. The meeting was between a known terrorist named Dr. Noah Bentley and his contact. Bentley had recently smuggled something labeled Specimen ML13 out of a genetic research lab. Ryland didn’t have confirmation yet, but he and his team believed that specimen was a megaliger—a modified lion-tiger hybrid engineered to show extreme aggression. Andromeda and Luka had helped the authorities track down and contain the rest of the megaligers that had come out of New Dawn Laboratories, but Bentley had spirited this one away.

Ryland could only speculate about what the terrorists, who called themselves the Crusaders for Divine Order, would do with the animal. The plan now was to get to the rendezvous coordinates before Bentley. He would eavesdrop on the exchange and try to identify the contact.

Hey, an unfamiliar female voice said behind him.

He and Luka both turned. The former supermodel and actor made the about-face look much more graceful than Ryland did.

Another robot faced them with one hand on her metal hip. Are you the new arrivals?

Yes, we are, Luka answered smoothly. We were just walking around to get used to the neural interface. Movement is still a bit jerky.

You’ll get better at it with time, she assured them. You’re early, and you forgot to log in. I wasn’t expecting anyone else for at least an hour, Dr....

Please, call me Bob, Luka said. I feel silly addressing a bunch of bolts as doctor.

She laughed. That’s one way to look at it. I’m Marjorie. You mind helping me with the mass spectrometer? I could use another pair of hands to get it unpacked and set up. If I put so much as a scratch on it, I’ll never hear the end of it.

Happy to help. Luka motioned for her to lead the way.

Ryland now understood why Delfina—the clairvoyant on his team—had insisted Luka join him. She must have foreseen that he’d need the charming fellow to run interference.

With Luka there to distract Marjorie, Ryland continued to the meeting spot. He stepped carefully through a shallow riverbed that was fed from a lake somewhere up in the sloping mountains. Monoliths of rock the color of peaches loomed on either side.

There, Andromeda told him when he’d gone a ways upstream. You should be in a good position. Find some cover.

He chose the nearest boulder and hid behind it. There were benefits to being in a smaller body.

Maybe fifteen minutes passed before he heard the splash of approaching footsteps through the water. They stopped about six or seven meters away from his hiding spot. Ryland didn’t bother poking his head out to get a look, since the conspirators would only appear as robots too. Instead he listened intently.

Noah. The word was spoken in a synthesized voice, with no clue as to whether the speaker was male or female. What an interesting place to meet.

It’s secure, Noah Bentley replied. I couldn’t risk contacting you any other way.

Are you certain our audio is not being recorded?

Is that why you’re disguising your voice? Bentley asked. There’s no need to worry. Hijacking an inactive robot is hard. Hacking into one with an active link is nearly impossible. There are safety protocols in place to protect the human operator. Nobody can hear us.

No one but Ryland, and he’d left enough distance that he had to pay close attention.

We’d better make this quick, Bentley warned.

Very well, his contact replied. You got the specimen out of the lab?

"Yes. No one